Currently on loan at Marseille from AS Roma, Pau López was thrust into the spotlight against Lorient at the weekend, producing some great saves to help his team win 4-1.
The score could have been a lot closer had it not been for the Spaniard, who was always quick off his line and reacted superbly to some tricky shots.
In fact, it appears that it’s for that very reason that he was signed, and a lot of it has to do with his time at Tottenham.
For those Spurs fans who don’t remember, and we wouldn’t blame you for forgetting all about López’s spell with the club, the goalkeeper was signed by Mauricio Pochettino on loan from Espanyol for the 2016-17 season.
He never played for Tottenham, featuring a few times for the reserves instead, and when the opportunity came to sign him permanently, Daniel Levy decided he wanted to pay the fee in instalments rather than up front, which led to the player returning to Spain.
He was ‘grateful’ for his time at Spurs, and it appears it really did serve him well in the way he developed, as explained by Romain Canuti, who was speaking to Le Phocéen about the shot stopper.
He said: “From the off, everyone made a mistake about him. He didn’t come because his former Real Betis goalkeeping coach was here. In the end, if the Marseille staff ended up leaning towards him, it’s more because he’s a goalkeeper who, after his formation, was at Tottenham and therefore played high up the pitch, like is the habit of English goalkeepers”.
Either way, it appears that his time at Tottenham really did help him, since it got him a move to Marseille, helping him end a rather nightmarish spell at AS Roma, where he never really convinced anyone.
He now has the task of dethroning club legend Steve Mandanda, which is a tough task in itself.
